ABSTRACT

The image of Japan as a nation of copiers is a common stereotype. It is based on powerful myths and the assumptions of a unitary concept of the copy and of the Japanese people as an undifferentiated, united group. However, Japanese people, like any other, do not represent a unified group in this regard. In this chapter I shall illustrate and reflect upon some of the uses and abuses of this stereotype through an analysis of the development of copyright in Japan (Sakka 1999).